Is Pharmacy a good career choice?

Hello

I am currently applying for university. I've already written a personal statement for Pharmacy courses, but I've found that a lot of people say the course doesn't have very good career prospects, and that other courses, such as Optometry, are better in this regard. The actual content of the Pharmacy course interests me, and I think working as a hospital pharmacist would be interesting, but I don't want to spend lots of money and time on a degree that could be better spent on another.

Whilst lots of people are unsatisfied with community pharmacy prospects, after qualifying the starting salary is a band 7 salary (£41,659 per year). In comparison with, for example, undergraduate science degrees like biology or chemistry I think this is a pretty good salary.

Thanks for your reply. I thought community pharmacists also started at band 6. Where does it say they start at band 7?

Market is quite over saturated with graduates and competition is quite fierce.

Thanks for your reply. I thought community pharmacists also started at band 6. Where does it say they start at band 7?

Is that the case all over England, or just in the popular towns and cities like London or Milton Keynes?

Community doesn't actually have any banding weirdly enough but community salaries are equivalent of a non-london band 6-7 depending on experience (non-london 8a equivalent salary if a manger working 40 hours a week). Locum work pays significantly more bore competition can be quite fierce

Big cities and towns usually (fun fact, pre-pandemic I used to locum a bit in the BLMK area). In England the competition nowhere near as fierce in Cornwall, Devon and up north in tyneside. Also Norfolk seems to need a lot of locums but we are talking like about 3 hours from MK / 4 hours from London in those areas.
This may change in the next 5 years however

It might be an idea for the profession to place qualified Pharmacists into locations like doctors under the NHS, so that the less popular locations do have the Pharmacists they need.

The Pharmacists starting their training now will have increasingly varied roles - prescribing, working in multi-professional teams etc.etc.
Your placements during your degree will introduce you to the range of potential work available - including postgrad/research opportunities.
Grab the placements, the study abroad opportunities, and get interested in the research thats happening around you. Its all there.

Its something which has been suggested in the past but the gphc... Yeah. It was thought that opening pharmacy schools in different locations would address this need however most people end up going back home after uni.

Personally, they need to restrict numbers and they really need to address pharmacist redeployment as there are way more pharmacists than pharmacies yet unemployment is in the thousands. Problem is that housing has become ridiculously high the last 5 years and relocation is nowhere near as likely as it was a decade ago. If salaried pharmacists are barely earning over 40k before deductions (~26-27k after tax, NI, pension, student loan) and rent is over 1k a month, likewise bills and it means that it is extremely hard for people to relocate. Those who have additional factors like family, health issues, caring duties etc and it is not hard to see why people don't want to relocate

Pharmacy graduates still have other options, such as doing a PhD, Medical Writing, Teaching, working in Pharmaceuticals, and other graduate level jobs.

Its something which has been suggested in the past but the gphc... Yeah. It was thought that opening pharmacy schools in different locations would address this need however most people end up going back home after uni.

Personally, they need to restrict numbers and they really need to address pharmacist redeployment as there are way more pharmacists than pharmacies yet unemployment is in the thousands. Problem is that housing has become ridiculously high the last 5 years and relocation is nowhere near as likely as it was a decade ago. If salaried pharmacists are barely earning over 40k before deductions (~26-27k after tax, NI, pension, student loan) and rent is over 1k a month, likewise bills and it means that it is extremely hard for people to relocate. Those who have additional factors like family, health issues, caring duties etc and it is not hard to see why people don't want to relocate

Most companies in CP offer a generous relocation and sign on bonus which can be used as a mortgage deposit. I'm a locum now but when I was employed as a PM in CP, my total upfront bonus was £24,000. Salary was £65,000. Offer was to relocate within the NE.

Please tell me which companies offer these sort of relocation bonuses? The average I have seen from boots, Lloyd's, Rowlands, well, asda and Tesco is between 5000-6000, with the absolute highest being 13 thousand for signing on bonus and relocation bonus combined for up north. Its worth mentioning to people sources, as well as property prices as the price of a 5 bedroom house in North West and North East is about the same as a studio flat - 2 bedroom flat in the commuter corridor in the south east / east anglia

Please tell me which companies offer these sort of relocation bonuses? The average I have seen from boots, Lloyd's, Rowlands, well, asda and Tesco is between 5000-6000, with the absolute highest being 13 thousand for signing on bonus and relocation bonus combined for up north. Its worth mentioning to people sources, as well as property prices as the price of a 5 bedroom house in North West and North East is about the same as a studio flat - 2 bedroom flat in the commuter corridor in the south east / east anglia